Watergate complex
The Watergate complex is a group of six buildings in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It includes a development of cooperative apartment residences, a hotel, and an office building.
Its area, which sits just north of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is bounded on the north by Virginia Avenue, on the east by New Hampshire Avenue, on the south by F Street, and on the west by the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway which is along the Potomac River.
Built between 1963 and 1971, the Watergate became one of the most desirable living spaces in Washington, D.C., popular with members of Congress and political appointees of the executive branch. The complex has been sold several times since the 1980s. During the 1990s, it was subdivided and its component buildings and parts of buildings were sold to various owners.
In 1972, the office building was the location of the Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of U.S. president Richard Nixon two years later. The name "Watergate" and the suffix "-gate" have become synonymous with and applied by journalists to controversial topics and scandals in the United States and elsewhere.
History
For over a century, the land now occupied by the Watergate complex belonged to the Gas Works of the Washington Gas Light Company, which produced "manufactured gas", a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, and other flammable and nonflammable gases, for heating, cooking, and lighting throughout Washington, D.C. Gas production ceased at the site in 1947, and the plant was demolished shortly thereafter.During the 1950s, the World Bank considered building its international headquarters here and on the adjacent site, but rejected the site for unspecified reasons. It constructed its headquarters at its current location at 1818 H Street NW in Washington, D.C.
Planning
The Watergate complex was developed by the Rome-based Società Generale Immobiliare. It was formally owned by Watergate Improvements, Inc., a division of SGI, whose investors included the Vatican.In February 1960, the company purchased of land that belonged to the defunct Chesapeake and Ohio Canal for $10 million. "Watergate" got its name from the old locks of this canal, which were visible from the complex. The project was announced on October 21, 1960. The chief architect was Luigi Moretti of the University of Rome; the associate architect was Milton Fischer of the D.C.-based firm of Corning, Moore, Elmore and Fischer. The apartment buildings included two-story units on the first and second floors, while the top-floor units had private rooftop terraces and fireplaces. The design for the entire complex also envisioned an electronic security system so extensive that the press claimed "intruders will have difficulty getting onto the grounds undetected." Boris V. Timchenko, a noted D.C.-based landscape architect, supervised the design of the grounds, which included more than 150 planters, tiers of fountains designed to create sounds like a waterfall, landscaped rooftop terraces, swimming pools, and a park. Landscape features such as planters would also be used to create privacy barriers between apartments. The complex was the first mixed-use development in the District of Columbia, and was intended to help define the area as a business and residential rather than industrial district. The Watergate complex was intended to be a "city within a city", and provide so many amenities that residents would not need to leave. Among these were a 24-hour receptionist, room service provided by the Watergate Hotel, health club, restaurants, shopping mall, medical and dental offices, grocery, pharmacy, post office, and liquor store. At the time, it was also the largest renewal effort in the District of Columbia undertaken solely with private funds.
Initially, the project was to cost $75 million and consist of six 16-story buildings comprising 1,400 apartment units, a 350-room hotel, office space, shops, 19 luxury "villas", and three-level underground parking for 1,250 vehicles. The Watergate's curved structures were designed to emulate two nearby elements. The first was the proposed Inner Loop Expressway, a curving freeway expected to be built just in front of the Watergate within the next decade. The second was the nearby Kennedy Center, then in the planning stage and whose original design was supposed to be curvilinear. Although the Kennedy Center later adopted a rectangular shape for cost reasons, the Watergate complex's design did not change. Incidentally, the curved structures would also give apartment dwellers an excellent view of the Potomac River. Because of the curves in the structure, the Watergate complex was one of the first major construction projects in the United States in which computers played a significant role in the design work.
Approval controversies
Because the District of Columbia is the seat of the United States government, proposals for buildings in the city must pass through an extensive, complex, and time-consuming approval process. The approval process for the Watergate complex had five stages. The first stage considered the proposed project as a whole as well as the first proposed building. The remaining four stages considered the four remaining proposed buildings in turn. At each stage, three separate planning bodies were required to give their approval: The National Capital Planning Commission, the District of Columbia Zoning Commission, and the United States Commission of Fine Arts .In December 1961, 14 months after the project was publicly announced, the NCPC voiced its concern that the project's 16-story buildings would overshadow the Lincoln Memorial and the proposed "National Cultural Center". At the time, the District of Columbia had a height limit on all buildings except for those located exclusively along business streets. To obtain a height waiver, SGI would have to include retail office space in the complex, but the site was then zoned only for apartment buildings. Thus, initial approval first had to be won from the District of Columbia Zoning Commission.
By the time the DCZC met to consider approval in mid-April 1962, the cost of the project had been scaled back to $50 million. Because the District of Columbia lacked home rule, DCZC planners were reluctant to act without coordinating with agencies of the federal government. Additionally, many civic leaders, architects, business people, and city planners opposed the project before the DCZC because they feared it was too tall and too large. By the end of April, DCZC had announced that it would delay its decision. The Commission of Fine Arts also had concerns: it felt some of the land should be preserved as public space and objected to the height of the proposed buildings as well as their modern design. Three days after the DCZC meeting, the USCFA announced it was putting a "hold" on the Watergate development until its concerns were addressed. To counter this resistance, SGI officials met with members of the USCFA in New York City in April 1962 and defended the complex's design. SGI also reduced the planned height of the Watergate to 14 stories from 16. In May 1962, the NCPC reviewed the project. Additional revisions in the design plan pushed the cost back up to $65 million, even though only 17 villas were now planned. Based on this proposal, the NCPC approved the Watergate plan.
With the support of the NCPC, SGI dug in its heels: It declared it was not interested in developing the unsightly, abandoned commercial site unless its basic curvilinear design was approved, and it lobbied DCZC commissioners in late May, lecturing them on the District's architectural heritage and the beauty of modern architecture. SGI officials also lobbied the USCFA. Meanwhile, White House staff made it known that the Kennedy administration wanted the height of the complex lowered to. Three key staff were opposed to the project on height grounds: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Special Assistant to the President; August Heckscher III, Special Consultant on the Arts; and William Walton, a Kennedy family confidant. The three briefed President John F. Kennedy on the issue, but it was not clear who made the decision to request the height reduction or who made the request public. The White House announcement surprised many, and offended federal and city planners, who saw it as presidential interference in their activities.
SGI's chief architect, Gábor Ács, and Watergate chief architect Luigi Moretti flew to New York City on May 17 and defended the complex's design in a three-hour meeting with USCFA members. SGI agreed to shrink three of the planned buildings in the development to 13 stories, with the remaining building rising to. SGI also agreed to add more open space by reducing the size of the Watergate to from and by reorienting or re-siting some of the buildings. The USCFA gave its assent to the revised construction plan on May 28, the White House withdrew its objections, and the DCZC gave its final approval on July 13. The final plan broke one building into two, creating five rather than four construction projects. Moretti later admitted he probably would have lowered the height of the buildings anyway, and thought that the approval process had gone relatively smoothly. Construction was expected to begin in spring 1963 and last five years.
The Watergate project faced one final controversy. The group Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State began a national letter-writing campaign opposing the project, alleging that the zoning waivers would not have been given had the Vatican not been a major investor in SGI. By mid-November 1962, more than 2,000 protest letters had been sent to Congress and another 1,500 to the White House. But the group's attempt to stop construction failed, and the project went forward.
The project won its $44 million financial backing in late 1962, and its construction permits in May 1963. Construction began on the first building, the Watergate East apartment, in August 1963. The builder was Magazine Bros. Construction. Groundbreaking occurred in August 1963, and major excavation work was complete by May 1964.
The U.S. Commission on Fine Arts attempted once more to revise the project. In October 1963, the USCFA alleged that the height of the Watergate complex, as measured from the parkway in front of it, would exceed the agreed-upon height restrictions. SGI officials, however, contended that architects are required by law to measure from the highest point on the property on which they are to build; using this measurement, the building met the May 1962 agreement stipulations. On January 10, 1963, SGI and the USCFA agreed that the height of the complex would not exceed above water level, that fewer than 300 apartment units would be built, and to eliminate the proposed luxury villas. Luxury penthouse apartments, however, could extend above the limit if they were set back from the edge of the building and the 14th floor was foregone. With these adjustments, the total cost of the first apartment complex was estimated at $12,184,376.